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Del I didn't mean to imply that short pianos necessarily sound bad. I nearly bought a 5'8 Knabe and played an SK-1 that just blew me away. What I meant was that a lot of pianos appear to be bought as status symbols more that as instruments. Kind of like pool tables. I always wanted a pool table and was thrilled to find that the house I'm in now was willing to leave it. I played it for about a month and now it sits collecting dust. When I move I'll leave it for the next guy. I've seen houses for sale around me that seem to have the same thing going on with their pianos. If they are played at all it is by the player system installed on it...

There certainly are people that love to play, but I don't think they're the majority of the market. I am not a piano retailer though so I may just be projecting my own ignorance.

I understand. It is interesting to work in the industry just now. Piano sound is actually improving even in the very short grands on the market. The rules of thumb we went by 20 years ago no longer hold.

But within the past five years or so several piano makers have upgraded their small grand piano lines. None of these have the low bass performance of longer pianos but neither are they tubby, unmusical atrocities of the bad old days.

Are you able to give us examples of a few specific models?

I ask because I played recently on a couple of new models (late 2012) of around 5ft, and their bass was just as tubby and indeterminate in pitch, lacking almost any discernable fundamentals, as a 20-year-old baby grand I played elsewhere while on holiday recently.

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"I don't play accurately - anyone can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life."

On the subject of 9ft. pianos for use at home or studio, it never ceases to amaze me that there are a significant number of Ds in Manhattan apartments and town houses. Bs I could understand and/or expect - but Ds?

It's funny that virtually none that I've played/heard seem to be too much for their respective spaces, yet my own 194cm Petrof (kept completely closed) can sometimes be a bit uncomfortable at anything above mezzo-forte in our little, heavily carpeted flat.